Taeil, a former member of the K-pop boy group NCT, has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison for rape. The sentencing was handed out by the Seoul Central District Court in South Korea on Thursday (Jul 10), and comes about five months after the 31-year-old was indicted on the charge of special quasi-rape.
The term special quasi-rape refers to when two or more people collectively assault a victim, or if the victim is incapable of resisting the assault because of a weapon or other forms of intimidation.
It was previously reported that Taeil, whose full name is Moon Tae-il, and two other men had sexually assaulted an intoxicated tourist in June 2024.
Thursday’s sentencing hearing also saw the two other perpetrators, identified as Lee and Hong in reports, receive similar jail terms of three and a half years.
All three men have also been ordered to complete 40 hours of a sexual violence treatment programme.
According to South Korean media reports, the presiding judge declared that the nature of the crime was “very serious” as the three men “took advantage of the victim being intoxicated and incapable of resistance” to rape her.
“The victim is a foreign tourist who was subjected to a crime in an unfamiliar place and she likely suffered significant psychological distress,” said the judge.
However, other factors were taken into consideration for the sentencing, including the fact that all three men were first-time offenders, had admitted to their crimes and had settled with the victim.
Prosecutors had previously demanded a prison sentence of seven years for all three men.
